Contrast
by Owllin Abandoned Account
Summary: Where there is light, there is shadow. Where there is happiness, there is sadness. Where there is great love, there is great pain, and no one loves Kuki more than Wally. A collection of angst. On indefinite hiatus.
1. Once Upon A Time

Once Upon a Time...

When Wally was little, much too small to realize that boys were supposed to be tough and strong and never cry, almost too tiny to properly walk, he had a favorite bed time story. Every night, snuggled into his favorite Koala bear pajamas and tucked beneath quilts, Wally would beg and beg for his father to tell him the story. Some night his dad would give in right away. Other times he would shake his head and insist that he was too tired or that it was too late, but it always ended the same way: Wally's father would smile and say "okay" in his deep, accented voice, smoothing his son's hair away from his forehead.

It went like this: Once upon a time, there was a handsome young farmer who worked all day in the red sun and slept all night in the sweltering heat. He was a diligent man, who always kept to his tasks, but the constant burning weather was enough to slow down even the toughest farmhand, and his farm never did do very well. At times, the air itself seemed too thick with humidity to even breathe.

One day, when it seemed even more scorching hot than was usual, the farmer yelled the sky in desperation, "If only the days weren't so hot, I'm sure that I could make my farm the best around!"

As if in response to his call, the air around him began to move in a way he had never experienced before; it pushed and pulled and tugged at his hair, and felt extremely pleasant.

"What was that?" he said, eyes half closed in wonder.

"It was me," came a voice, and the farmer turned to see the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, pale and shapely, her hair long and silken and her eyes a startling shade of deep blue.

"Who is that?" he asked, in awe.

"I'm called 'Wind'." she told him, smiling in a way that made the farmer's heart jump. "I heard you calling for relief, and felt compelled to come and help you. I have seen you working so hard for so little, it only seemed fair. Did I feel nice?"

"Wonderful," said the man, meaning it with every fiber of his body.

"That's good." said Wind. "I'm sure your farm will do much better after that!" With those words, she made to leave.

"Wait!" cried the farmer, not wanting to lose the lovely spirit forever (For, obviously, she was a spirit as no human could perform such a feat.). "I'm certain my farm will do better now, thanks to you, but if you were to stay and continue to help me, I'm certain it would be all the greater."

Wind thought this over for a little bit. It was very nice in this land, despite its heat, and the farmer seemed very kind to her. She supposed it couldn't hurt and agreed.

And so the farmer and Wind worked together, making the farm more and more prosperous with each passing season. The farmer would work the land and when he began to feel hot and tired, Wind would blow on him to cool him down. At night they would talk and laugh with each other in their bedroom, as Wind had taken to sleeping near the farmer to keep him cool at night as well.

With each passing season, the two grew closer and closer until it was obvious that they had fallen in love.

Yet all was not well.

The farmer began to notice that, when Wind wasn't with him or helping him with the crops, she seemed sad and restless, always gazing out into the distance. Moreover, all the farms around his own, with their own hard workers living on them, were doing so poorly while his was growing more and more. In the beginning, the farmer tried to ignore this, too happy and content with his life with Wind to do anything. But the more time that passed, the more restless the spirit grew and the worse the other farms became until he could no longer pretend it wasn't happening.

One night, with a heavy heart, the farmer pulled Wind close to him in their bed and said to her, in a low, sad voice, "Wind, you have to leave me."

Wind pulled back from her lover, shocked. "Leave you?" she said, aghast. "How could I ever leave you? It would break my heart not to be at your side,"

"I know," said the farmer, "but I have been watching you. You feel tied down here, trapped by my love and your feelings for me. You could never be truly happy with me; you're the wind. You were meant to be free and unbridled."

And as much as it hurt her, Wind knew what the farmer said was true.

"Take me outside," she said quietly and, without a word, the farmer took her hand and led her to the very spot where they had met so long ago.

"Dearest man," she said then, taking both of his hands in hers and resting her forehead against his, "know that I will always love you." With that, she kissed the man so dear to her heart one last time.

In seconds wind began to melt away, losing her solid form, becoming moving air as she had been before. For a moment she whirled around the farmer, as if embracing him, before flying off into the sky, once again free. To this day, if you listen closely you can sometimes hear the wind wailing for the man she loved.

Wally would always be close to crying by the end of the story when he was little. As he grew older, he refused to hear the story all together, claiming that it was a "girly fairy tale", but in the back of his head he always remembered the farmer and his long lost love. And some days Wally would gaze at a certain little girl, all joy and rapture and freedom, tied down by nothing and no one, and feel a certain kinship with the man in the story; he knew, deep down, that he could never bring himself to take that away from her just so he could be happy.

No man could capture the wind.

**A/N: Kuki's name means "air" in Japanese. That's more or less where this story came from. Also, I _really_ like making up folklore. It's fun.**


	2. Broken

Broken

A ripple of sound came to Wally's ears -- _rap, rap, rap --_ radiating from his window. He started slightly before looking up from the homework he was currently laboring over (Trigonometry; always a fun time. He really should learn not to put these things off until 1:30 on a Sunday night.). The light in his room was low, coming only from the lamp by his bed several feet away, but even in the darkness he could make out his visitor: a pretty Asian girl, long black hair in a ponytail, party dress on, make-up smeared and eyes glassy red. Kuki.

Without a word he got up and marched over to the glass panes, motioning for her to move back. She did, moving carefully on the tree branch she was perched on, and he pushed the widow up, shoving it firmly in place. He offered her his hand and she took it, small, silky fingers sliding into his own. Wally felt an electric shock ran up his arm and through his chest, setting off lights and flashes in the back of his brain. Mentally, he berated himself for allowing even such a small thrill of feeling to poke through.

Feet firmly on the floor, Kuki wasted no time walking over to Wally's bed and sitting down, knees drawn up to her chest. Wally looked at her in the dim, almost romantic light (_"Stop it, brain,"_ he thought, agitated.), watching a few strands of hair fall into her face, eyes tracing the curves of her body, hugged by her dress. She would look perfect if it weren't for the obvious anguish in her eyes. He clenched and unclenched his fist, trying to fight off the rage building in his gut. Quickly, he sat down beside her and said nothing; it was a familiar situation. In a moment Kuki would either talk or cry or they would simply sit in silence for the next hour or so. Wally bit back the angry thoughts that were beginning to emerge and forced himself to think about a particularly nasty math problem he was working on until she made a move.

Kuki took in a stuttering breath, "At the party," she started, voice wavering, "with Justin…"

Ah yes, the party. The one she wouldn't stop talking about all week. The one she was going to with her _boyfriend_ Justin that was going to have a live band and everything. Wally's teeth started to grind.

"Did he do something to you?" He asked, amazed at how neutral he'd managed to keep his voice.

Tears sprung up in Kuki's eyes and she let out an involuntary sob. Wally automatically wrapped his arm around her thin shoulders and her face dove into his shirt, trying to muffle the gasps and tears.

"He didn't rape you, did he?" He asked, trying to keep his voice low and gentle and promising to suffocate that boy while he slept if he had.

He felt Kuki shake her head. _'No,'_ Wally thought, _'but I bet he came pretty damn close.'_

They sat for a while in silence as Kuki cried. Wally rested his chin in her hair while inwardly he seethed. She was always doing this, always dating boys that seemed nice and charming but were really bunch of ass-wipes that were only interested in her body. It was times like this that Wally wished Kuki wasn't quite so friendly and outgoing and nice. It was times like this that he wished she didn't attracted boys like flies to honey. Actually, he wouldn't really mind if she never attracted any boys ever again. It was hard, loving someone who was so free and so willing to be loved by everyone; it was like loving the sun. Minutes passed and her tears began to ease, changing from wailing into soft hiccups. Wally, realizing the bulk of her tears had past and feeling the need to console her, began to speak.

"He's an ass, Kuki," he said, rubbing her arm slightly and keeping in a few harsher insults. "You're better off with him gone."

"Don't say that, Wally," she said, pulling away from his chest to speak. "He just had a little too much to drink. I'm sure he'll apologize tomorrow."

The quiet lion of fury inside Wally's head, which before had only been growling, began to roar at this comment. Why did she always defend these idiots? Couldn't she that they didn't deserve her defense? That they were useless little shits that wouldn't know how to treat a girl if they took a class on it? Liquid heat rose in his throat, pushing out words and spite that he hadn't meant to say.

"What about the next time he has too much to drink?" Wally growled. "And the next time? And the next? Will you just keep forgiving him if he says some crappy apology?"

"Wally, stop it." Kuki said, moving away from him slightly. "You know it's not like that. I really like Justin. It'll be fine by tomorrow, I'm sure of it."

The word "like" twisted in Wally's gut like a knife, but he pushed through the feeling, fueled by his rage. "Then what is it like, Kuki? Is it like Mark? Or Rob? Or Chris or Joe? Why do you keep dating all these shit-heads that walk all over you?"

"Stop it!" Kuki said again, standing up. "I came here because you're my friends and I thought you'd help me feel better, not so you'd get mad at me!"

"Well, hell, what else do you want me to do?" Wally shot back, standing up himself. "You let these fuckers like Justin use you! What is going to take for you to realize that? Do they have to beat you or molest you first? Or will you never learn and end up marrying one, make every day of your life a living hell? God, Kuki, how can you be such an idiot –"

A slap to the face cut off Wally's rant. His cheek stinging, he looked down to see Kuki standing there with her arm raised and tears in her eyes once again. Time seemed to stand still at that moment as Wally saw the shadows on her face, cast from his lamp, the angry red flush on her cheeks, the scratch on her collar bone he hadn't noticed earlier. Before he could say a word, she ran to the still-open window, hair flying behind her, and jumped out, climbing down the tree at record speed with no regard to her dress. Wally was after her fast, but not fast enough.

"Kuki!" He yelled to her retreating form. "Kuki, wait!"

She didn't stop.

Wally watched for just a moment longer before he made a dash for his coat and began pulling it on inside-out. He would go after her. He had to. He would run and catch up with her and explain and apologize and say…

He paused. What would her say? That her loved her? That's her loved her for years and years now, since he was ten?

How would she believe that after what had just happened? What right did he have to love the sun?

Wally slowly took off his jacket and walked over to his window, shutting it quietly. He sat back down at his desk, looking at his math problems but not really reading them. Placing a hand over his eyes, he clenched his fist hard, nails biting into the skin, before slamming it hard into the wood, cracking it slightly.

"Dammit." he said, voice breaking. "Dammit."

At a corner, several streets down, a pretty girl in a party dress stood crying silently, wishing a certain boy doing math homework would run after her and hold her tight and tell her that he loved her.

**A/N: Hurm… I feel like I made Wally get angry way too fast. Also, the theme to this seems just a bit too similar to Once Upon a Time… but I guess, as a whole, it's not too bad. I do think that the situation and their characters are fairly accurate for once. Or I could be wrong. Who knows?**


	3. First Time

First Time

Blankets seemed to engulf Kuki's slight, naked form, heavy down covering her from head to chin despite the heat of mid-July. Beneath the sheets, her skin was sticky with sweat and saliva and, between her legs, seed. Her hair, normally so strait and clean, was twisted and plastered to her neck and face; she fought the urge to move it, to arrange it into some semblance of its previous beauty. She didn't want to move just yet. She was afraid.

Her stomach hurt.

It had happened so fast, she hadn't really seen it coming. Nothing that occurred that night pointed to this, to her in his bed, breathing in his scent on his pillow, his taste in her mouth. Yet suddenly it had all been there, all of him, his chest, his arms, his mouth, his tongue, the curve of his ass, his legs tangled in the sheets. All of her, too. It had been wonderful. Now she was scared.

Kuki shifted slightly and the pain flared sharply in her lower stomach once again. Biting back a gasp, she placed an arm over her abdomen and pressed slightly, hoping to ease the ache. It was supposed to hurt after the first time, she had been told. Like cramps. It was normal, nothing big. Don't worry about it.

Worry still came, but it wasn't about that.

Thoughts flooded her mind, memories long past and not-so long past: The boy, short, angry, cute and naïve. The innocence of the first few years, of him blushing and her giggling, the unexpected hugs, the tentative hand holding. Then they had become teenagers and things had become less innocent, more passionate. Kisses between classes, making-out on her couch when her parents were gone and her sister was out, her teeth on his earlobe, his hand on her bare thigh. Now they were here.

Kuki wondered if it was normal to think about these kinds of things after making love. It wasn't as if she had experience with this.

She wondered if the silence was normal.

He hadn't said anything, not a word, not a murmur. This is what frightened Kuki. What if something was wrong? Had she been terrible? Was he disappointed or was it something… worse?

Regret. The prospect sent ice needles down her spine. She didn't know what she'd do if he regretted what he'd just done, the act he'd just committed with her. She didn't regret it; she knew that nothing could make her regret it. Except for him. His denial, his rejection, _that_ would make her regret. She couldn't handle him walking away from her, from them, from this. She had her heart, her soul invested into him. For years and years, he had been inside her long before this night. Heart break wouldn't even begin to cover it. Heart _shattered_ might come close. Might.

She felt him turn beside her in the bed and her heart kicked up a few paces as he pressed his body against her back. Butterflies began to invade her throat.

Placing his arm over-top her stomach and along side her own, he used his free hand to caress her face, pulling away the raven strands from her neck and cheeks, smoothing it out. She let out a soft sigh. How did he always know?

"Does it hurt?" Wally asked voice sleepy and thick.

Kuki smiled. Carefully, she turned in his loose embrace to face him. Placing a hand on his jaw, she kissed him as she had so many times before, soft and warm.

"No," she said, moving back slightly. "There's nothing to worry about."

**A/N: Kuki angst this time! It's entirely possible that I misrepresented some aspect of sex in writing this; I haven't exactly done it before. Also, this is about a racy as I'll ever get, so if you can deal with this, you should be pretty much prepared for anything I'm gonna submit.**


	4. Under Your Skin

Under your Skin

Somehow, it just kept getting harder to smile.

Kuki was never one for hiding her emotions; everything she was, everything she believed, it was all out there for the world to see. She could no more mask who she was than she could mask the sky. Except for this.

Sitting alone in her room (though not really alone, it seemed, in the presence of so many stuffed animals with their permanent stares and fixed smiles), Kuki finally gave herself permission to frown.

It was odd, Kuki thought as she hugged one of her many plush toys to her chest; she thought she knew what love was, what it meant to be in love with someone. It was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be lovely and sweet, like lying in a field of wild flowers with the sun tanning your face. It was not supposed to hurt.

Kuki liked to flirt, that was something everyone knew. She understood just the way she had to pout, how to cock her head, how to shift he weight, how to twirl her hair. Boys flew to her like flies to honey. Except for him: he came anyway, without the flirting, without the tricks.

Wallabee Beetles. Kuki was in love with him, that much she sure of. She didn't have to act coy or giggle prettily to get him to come to her; he came without provocation. She felt safe with him, like she would never have to worry again. She felt free to be herself and make mistakes and not fear rejection. She felt at home.

Wallabee Beetles was in love with her, this she was also aware of. He tried to hide it; of course he tried to hide it. Tough, strong guys just didn't fall in love, especially not with girls like her. But Kuki could tell anyway; the little blushes, the stuttering words… It was all so cute, so sweet and innocent. It made Kuki love him even more.

Yet they didn't tell each other. They _couldn't_ tell each other.

It was as if both of them felt they were walking a razor thin edge between two things. Where they were was safe, understood, not perfect, but close enough. But over _there_…

Over there was uncertainty that could lead to something wonderful, something both of them longed for, or complete and total ruin that left them without even a friendship to return to.

They loved each other too much. They wouldn't risk that step, risk losing the other forever, no matter the gains. So they kept to their balancing act, two halves that could embrace and be close but never truly be one. It kept them together and, every day, it tore them apart just a little bit more.

Their friendship strained under their love, knowing they could have more but fearing it too much to go and get it. Kuki tried to smile, to pretend it wasn't happening, but it remained and persisted. It just got worse. Kuki would close her eyes and see his face; she would dream and hear his voice. She wanted him to be hers and hers alone but she couldn't bring herself to do it, to cross the line and break the unspoken pact.

Even now, in her room, his presence taunted her, hung in the air an everlasting phantom, speaking to her…

"_Kuki…"_ the illusion whispered in his voice, his lovely, adorable voice.

"Go away," Kuki mumbled into her stuffed animal, shutting her eyes against the sound.

"_I love you," _the voice said, mocking her.

"Go _away_," she said again.

"_Kuki…"_

"_Go_ _away!_" she screeched, pushing her palms against her ears and curling herself into a protective ball she vowed never, ever to come out of.

"Kuki?" It was the same voice but solid, more real; Wally was outside her door.

Quickly, Kuki force herself to smile, "Coming, Numbuh 4!" she cried, making sure she sounded ridiculously happy. She trotted over to her door and pulled it open to reveal the all-too-familiar Australian in his signature orange hoodie. Beneath his blonde bangs there was worry in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked, "You were yelling and the guys and I thought…"

Kuki chocked out a giggle, "Nothing's wrong, silly," she insisted falsely, "I was just playing a game with Mrs. Fluffy-Pants," to illustrate her point she held up the stuffed animal she was still holding, only just then realizing it was a rabbit whose name was not, in fact, Mrs. Fluffy Pants but rather Pinky-Winky. She bit her lip and hoped he didn't notice the mistake.

Obviously Wally didn't keep very close track of the name she gave her toys and seemed to believe her story. He smiled at her in relief (what a smile) and raised his hand as if to touch her face or her hair, but suddenly hesitated. The silent promise. The rule. He felt them there too. The hand returned to his side.

"See ya' later, then," he said, and his voice sounded tighter than before. He waved goodbye, a small, almost pathetic movement, and jogged back down the hall, returning to the others. Kuki grinned and waved after him as he left, feeling her heart crack just a little bit more.

**A/N: You'll notice that these stories seem pretty damn introverted. Meaning there's a lot more thinking and a lot less action. There are two reasons for that: 1) Action would require a lot more work and I am lazy and 2) it's easier to write introverted angst. I'm gonna try to write a more plot-driven one-shot (not for the next one; the next one is already planned out and part-way through being written, but maybe the one after that), we'll see what happens. That aside, this is the first time in this collection that I feel like I've really grasped Wally and Kuki. Happy days!**

**Also, a quick shot-out to my reviewers: thanks so much guys for stopping in my little corner of the internet. It's great to hear some feedback on these silly little stories I've been writing!**


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